June 19, 2025 • 28 mins
Ever wonder what happens when French culinary techniques meet Caribbean flavors in a small Florida town? Chef Elijah Rock is answering that question at Bricks (B-R-I-X) in Port Richey, where he’s crafting accessible fine dining while embracing first-time fatherhood.
The journey from Vermont to Florida’s Gulf Coast has been transformative for Chef Rock, who brings a strong French foundation to his new coastal home. His standout dishes—sugar-brined pork chops with house-made Caribbean sauce and U10 scallops with smoked tomato emulsion and creamed corn—showcase his talent for elevating familiar ingredients through technique without intimidating price points.
What sets Chef Rock apart is his commitment to reshaping kitchen culture. Rejecting the hostile environments that once defined the industry, he’s building a space where creativity thrives through respect and collaboration. This approach also guides his parenting, as he and his wife (who serves and tends bar at Bricks) build a balanced family life around their shared love for hospitality.
Chef Rock’s vision goes beyond Port Richey—he’s eager to bring Tampa to Bricks through collab dinners and food festivals. His goal isn’t just success—it’s creating something his daughter will be proud of.
Follow Chef Elijah Rock on Instagram @chefelijah.rock and visit Bricks in Port Richey, where high-end ingredients meet neighborhood prices in a dining experience redefining coastal Florida cuisine.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Success for me is going to be, you know, bringing
my creativity to the small towns, showing people that you can.
You can break away from thefryer baskets, it's OK.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello Food Fam.
This is the Wankatalk Podcast,where you will find the perfect
blend of food fun and cookingknowledge.
I'm your host, carl Fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country and the
official podcast for the NewYork, california and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit and the US
Culinary Open at NAFM.
We're recording on-site at IbisImages Studios, where food
(00:47):
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
Email us to learn more info atthewalkandtalkcom.
Today's guest is stepping intotwo major roles all at once he's
a first-time daddy and asoon-to-be restaurant owner.
Chef Elijah Rock is theexecutive chef at Bricks in Port
Richey, florida, where he'sblending fine dining roots with
(01:07):
a coastal inspiration andbuilding a new culinary legacy
while he and his wife raisetheir first child at home.
Today he's bringing us twostandout dishes.
One's a pork chop, the otherone is scallops.
They're amazing and that's whatI want to get into first right
now.
Let's welcome Chef Elijah tothe program.
(01:28):
Chef, welcome, thank you forhaving me.
You were hitting home runs likecrazy.
Insane.
Both dishes, beautifulPhotography, as per usual, john,
fantastic, you're welcome.
Yeah, he doesn't talk, silentJohn.
I want to do pork chops first,man.
Yeah, he doesn't talk SilentJohn, let's.
I want to do pork chop serviceman?
Yeah, of course.
(01:49):
So both were great.
Um, I lean towards, you know,the beef, the lamb, the pork,
that's.
That's where I like to live.
I like seafood too.
Scallops are delicious, I lovethem, but let's talk about the
pork.
Oh, the pork chop.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yes, the pork chop is definitely a mainstay on our
main menu at Brick's.
What we do with the pork chopis a sugar brine for 24 hours.
After that we take it out, patit dry, we cryovac them into our
bags and then from there wewill sous vide them for service,
and then from there we hit themon the grill or in a cast iron
(02:25):
pan just to finish them off, getthem to temperature.
The way that we're preparingthe pork chop right now is we're
doing it with our house-madeCaribbean sauce, charred
Cipollini onions, potato pureeand sautéed asparagus Anytime
you're putting Cipollini onionson anything, you're a winner.
They're one of my favorites man.
They really are.
(02:45):
You come from up north, so Iwas born in Vermont and spent a
lot of my life in New Hampshire,right on the border of the
Connecticut River there.
So I'd be living in Vermontworking in New Hampshire, or
living in New Hampshire workingin Vermont, back and forth.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Where's your funny accent?
I never got one man.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
My dad's from Chicago .
Back and forth.
Where's your funny accent?
I never got one man.
My dad's from Chicago, my mom'sfrom New Jersey.
They met in Vermont at aChristmas party and they settled
down there.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
They loved it so much .
And nine months later, boom.
Yeah, a couple of years latermaybe, but you know, I hear New
Hampshire isn't it like that, Ithink it's supposed to be.
You can probably do it.
Oh, we can do it.
Sure, okay, all right, there itis Second dish scallops yes
scallops.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So the scallops that we made today, that dish is on
our chef's tasting menu.
They're U10 scallops from NewBedford, massachusetts.
We're doing that with creamedcorn, smoked tomato emulsion,
asparagus tips, prosciutto andpickled red onions.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, I'm going to get the prosciutto.
I ate them all, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
No, it's fine.
That's why I brought them, man,I did.
They're great snacks.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So the name of the restaurant is Bricks, but it's
not the bricks that everyone'sthinking.
Explain Bricks.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So Bricks B-R-I-X it's a unit of measurement to
measure the sugar content infruits and in wines.
Bricks B-R-I-X the name fitsthe flavor of the restaurant
being a bistro wine and bar.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So where did the French Caribbean mesh come from?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Caribbean and French fusion definitely came from my
heavy background in Frenchcooking.
I was always trained in Frenchrestaurants heavy European and
when we moved to Florida it wasone of those things that I've
always wanted to do is to getinto the flavors of the islands
(04:41):
and in Florida.
So my sous chef, jeremy, is aTampa native and he's really
helped out, like developing theflavors, teaching me how to put
it together in a positive wayand in turn I'm showing him more
of the French techniques.
So it's a nice balancing actbetween me and my sous.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I think any chef that's coming here from outside
of the state of Florida needs aJeremy in their life.
Oh, a hundred percent Right.
We spoke a little bit off airearlier about what's available
in terms of produce andseasonality in Florida.
And part of the year, man, it'spretty, it's pretty strong,
things are pretty solid.
(05:23):
And then the other half of theyear, like everything comes from
somewhere else and it's fairlyold.
By the time you get it it'salready had, you know, 10 days
or so on its life already.
So you come in as a chef who'sused to walking out to the
backyard and just, you know,pulling great stuff out of the
ground, and all of a sudden youroptions are a little limited.
(05:47):
How are you dealing with that?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's definitely different.
It's been a struggle a bit tofind, you know, your great
quality stuff, but thankfully wehave great fishermen, great
purveyors and we do have a lotof local farms that are not
afraid to walk in the back doorof our restaurant and, you know,
sell us on sign and if you knowyou have something that's
really nice, bring it by man.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I'll probably buy it from you.
The sale of the restauranthappens in about a month.
Yes, how is it that you'regoing to work around a brand new
baby and a brand new restaurant?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
It might be a little tough, but so far my wife and I
have a good system.
Since she's serving andbartending at the restaurant,
she doesn't come in until alittle bit later in the night,
so she's with the baby all day.
We bring the baby over to herparents' house, who live about
five minutes from the restaurant, and they're gracious enough to
(06:44):
watch their grandchild, whichwhich they really love, and from
there, uh, we pick her up atthe end of the night together,
we go home and you know, nowit's now his dad's starting to
hang out with with the littleone it's the most special thing
in the world and you have tomake sure this first, like six
(07:08):
months, is probably one of themost special because that's
where they're going to learn whoyou are.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It's awesome.
What you just said is awesomeand really sincerely, that's um
it's.
It's nice to hear people whoare still relatively young,
having the babies, still puttingin the work, still have
aspirations.
You both want to berestaurateurs, but you also want
(07:37):
to raise a family.
Have you seen that there's aparallel between a new baby and
a new restaurant?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
There is, in a way that it's both.
You don't really know whatyou're getting into until you're
in it.
I guess it's exciting, nervewracking and I'm definitely not
sleeping enough, but I mean Icouldn't be happier.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Emotions are real and what you have going on right
now when you look at yourdaughter and then you look at
the kitchen.
But I mean, I couldn't behappier.
Emotions are real and what youhave going on right now when you
look at your daughter and thenyou look at the kitchen.
What kind of legacy are youhoping to leave behind in both
places?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
For my daughter.
You know, I just want, I wantthe best for her, I want to be
there for her with everything,and it's being in the restaurant
industry has always beentraditionally hard on families,
so I'm trying to break that molda little bit by, you know,
being there as much as I can,you know.
That's why having a having areally strong team is super
(08:40):
important to me, so that I cantrust them If I have to leave,
if I have to go out and get, youknow, pick my daughter up from
school, or you know, whatever itis that I can, I can trust the
people that are there that aregoing to fulfill my vision.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
You're into the new way of things in the restaurant
industry.
You're looking to create aculture that's that embraces
family, growth, a better workenvironment all the things that
are the taglines in today's foodindustry world.
How did you come to thatconclusion?
How did you come to that path?
I?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
guess in my early in my career, I mean, I worked with
angry chefs in hostile kitchens.
It was tough to find a place.
You know you either were goingto be bullied or you had to be a
bully yourself and it's notsustainable for longevity, it's
not good for the morale of theteam.
(09:32):
The last place I worked at, inVermont Twin Farms, our
executive chef, nathan Rich,really taught me empathy by the
way that he treated everybody.
You know everyone deservesrespect.
You know you have to beaccountable for everything that
you're doing, but it was reallynice.
(09:54):
You felt accepted, you feltlike you belong there and you
know you're able.
But it was.
It was really nice.
You felt accepted, you feltlike you, you belong there and
you could.
You know you're, you're able togrow, you're not afraid to mess
up.
You know one of the biggestthings in cooking is you have to
fail to succeed or you're nevergonna.
You're never gonna break themold.
You know you're just gonna bemaking meatballs and spaghetti
red sauce.
You know there's nothing wrongwith that.
(10:14):
But I mean mean I like thecreativity, I like the.
You know the colors, theflavors, just the whole thing.
And you know you don't wantpeople to feel like they can't
do it because you can.
Cooking, essentially, is easy.
It's all the techniques thatyou learn along the way, from
different chefs, different cooks.
(10:35):
You know, I'm not afraid tolearn.
I learned stuff from from ourline cooks, from our dishwashers
there's.
That's the cool thing aboutfood is that you, you never stop
learning.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And you have to do it in a way that you can keep the
doors open Right.
So buying is super importantKnowing what to purchase, when
to purchase.
You know, I know a lot of chefsover the years with me.
They wanted like very specificitems that were out of season.
But they were in season in someother far away place.
Yeah, I can procure it for you.
You're going to pay throughyour nose.
(11:06):
I'm always wondering are yougoing to make money on that?
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, that's hard and I've definitely learned that in
Florida is that sometimes whatyou get is what you get and you
have to make changes.
And you know I'm I mean, I'm upfor the challenge on that.
I love coming up with with newmenus.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, I'm up for that challenge Opening a restaurant,
massive financial commitment,like it's a big step.
I tell people all the time likedon't do it, you're crazy.
In my family my grandfatherowned a restaurant, my father
did.
I grew up in and around thisbusiness.
I tell people to run With.
That said, I love restaurantsand I love this industry and I
(11:43):
love going to new places andtrying the different foods and
the techniques and alwayslooking for that next level
service that really brings youback.
You know you get a burgeranywhere, you can get certain
dishes anywhere, but like whenyou have good service and
there's happy people in arestaurant, that's what brings
you back.
How did you convince yourselfto go off on a financial limb to
(12:08):
buy a restaurant?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
That's uh, that's actually kind of funny.
You say that because, honestly,I never really wanted to own a
restaurant until until recently,the past couple of years.
I, I really just want to be incharge.
I want to be the boss thatcalls the shots and says when we
can take Christmas off, when wecan't.
(12:30):
I wanted to stop working forfor other people and start
working for myself and I think,like as a chef, that could be a
really great way to provide formy family does that mean your
definition of success may havechanged from, let's say, a year
ago, because you've worked inpretty high-end places like your
(13:05):
.
Your pedigree is pretty strong,and now you're in a smaller town
in Florida.
What equals success for you toeat quality ingredients at a
price that most people canafford.
I think it's really importantfor people to start looking at
where their food is coming from,what they're eating, how
they're eating it.
And success is being there foryour family too.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
You're in Port Richey .
It's a beautiful place.
It's not exactly on thenational food radar, but that's
where you find opportunities,where do you see the opportunity
in bringing your cuisine tothis area?
Speaker 1 (13:43):
One of the reasons why we moved down here was to
Port Richey is because it lookedlike the town was growing.
There's a lot of building goingon, there's new restaurants
popping up all over the place.
I wanted to be one of the firstpeople there that was doing
something special, doingsomething different than what's
(14:06):
been there before.
We need to serve ourdemographic by giving them the
things that they want, using thehigher-end ingredients, along
with the things that they'recomfortable with, like doing a
shrimp and grits.
Maybe we'll do it with braisedbeef, with the, with nice
polenta.
You know nice golf shrimp, theandouille sausage is always
great and you know we jazz it.
(14:27):
We will jazz it up a bit.
You know I like takingingredients and you know
removing it a couple times, liketonight with the smoked
tomatoes.
You know we take the tomatoes,we smoke them and then we
emulsify them into a gel.
So we've removed it from thetomato three times and now it's
(14:54):
a real balance because thepeople that live there, they
expect a certain type of service, they expect a certain type of
cuisine Me bringing mycreativity into these dishes
while serving them the stuffthat they can feel comfortable
with as well, at a price thatthey can afford French Caribbean
identity.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Beyond the flavor, what does that fusion represent
to you in this chapter of yourlife?
New father, a chef restaurateur.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
French and Caribbean flavors.
I mean, I love them both,especially French.
My wife and I, we love theislands, we love the food and
the flavors when we're there,flavors when we're there.
So bringing those two togetheras a fusion in a way that our
demographic will embrace, acceptand fall in love with is a nice
(15:45):
challenge for us.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
What's an example of a French Caribbean fusion dish?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
So we do a jerk seasoned pork loin on special
every once in a while and we'vebeen playing around with
plantains a lot, trying to be alittle different.
We don't fry food in ourrestaurant but we'll take the
plantains and we'll cook them ina, you know, in a cognac brandy
(16:13):
sauce.
That is, you know, heavy, heavyFrench, lots of butter, brown
sugar, the cognac, and then wegot our plantains that we bring
in, we let them ripen for acouple of weeks in the walk-in
and you know we we cook themalmost like a, like a candied
carrot in a way, and it's likethat type of fusion that I
(16:36):
really enjoy.
You know, you don't really seethat a lot.
Maybe it's a dish, I don't know, but it was something new for
us, it was something new for ourguests in the restaurant and
they really, they really seem toenjoy all those flavors that
sounds super sexy.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I mean, tell me another dish, what else you got.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I mean we'll get, we'll do apricots and we'll, you
know, infuse them with vanilla,make an emulsification out of
them.
It's, it's the balance of beingalmost too sweet but still a
savory aspect to it that you canput with steak, fish pork.
I mean it works in a lot ofdifferent ways.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
That apricot sauce really sounds amazing.
How is that pairing with aprotein?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Lately we would be putting that with our jerk
seasoned pork loin.
We'll do the chipolini onionson there, of course, with the
brandy plantains.
It all flows really nice.
And we'll do ourFrench-inspired pomme puree.
That's really delicious.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I hear about food every day.
We're in the food space.
So far I'm digging everythingyou're saying.
So if I come out to therestaurant, you have a bar,
right Of course.
What's the pair?
What am I drinking with that?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Oh man you could do a bunch of different things.
We do wine pairings with our,with our tasting menu, so you
could go that route.
We have a full liquor bar, wehave beers.
We're always challenging ourbar staff to come up with new
things that you know again fitour demographic, that also fit
(18:07):
within our vision, like rightnow our bartendericky has been
working on this pineappleupside-down martini that she's
doing and I mean it really justknocks your socks off, man.
It's really good.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I can't stop talking about that one, all right so an
upside-down pineapple martini,which I presume is like an
upside-down cake, does soundspectacular.
I think John and I are going tomake our way up to your
restaurant restaurant and wemight bring a camera or two and
we're going to get some videofootage of Vicky doing her drink
(18:41):
.
How's that sound?
That's it.
I think she would really likethat.
I guess one of the things youdon't have to do in buying this
restaurant is much renovation,because it looks really nice in
there.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Right, how old is the building, oh man.
I mean, I don't really how oldis the building?
Oh man, I mean, I don't reallyknow how old the building is.
It's got to be 20 years old atleast.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But it looks like it's fairly freshly renovated
inside.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
We take care of it.
We clean every day.
The restaurant's been there for10 years, so it's not perfect,
but it's home.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Chef, we were talking off air about the community of
things and how you kind of wantto expand into the neighborhood.
You know, not just not justport richie, but tampa.
You want to bring tampa to portrichie and you want to show the
big city what the little guycan do in regards to community.
I'm thinking between bricks andsome walk and talk inspired
(19:31):
events or dinners.
I feel like we can bring a lotto the community To bring the
community to Bricks.
I think we can get Tampa toBricks because I think your
level of cooking is pretty damngood.
People need to kind of justknow who you are and where to
find you.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, yeah, so we are a hole in the wall.
We're a small neighborhoodrestaurant and Tampa is
definitely the place to go ifyou want an exceptional dinner,
but we definitely want to seemore people coming in our doors
because you can get that levelof service and the of the people
(20:09):
in your area.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
They're used to certain things and and those
things are really yummy.
But you're a creative guy.
I know you want to bring.
You want to bring traditionalyummy fried stuff to the masses,
but you want to do it in anelevated way.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah.
So I mean we definitely want tobe using the highest quality
ingredients that we can at aprice point that you know
everyone can afford in our area.
You know we want to do.
We want to do collaborationdinners in downtown tampa.
We want to be in clearwater.
We want to get our name outthere as not just a business but
(20:48):
as, as as chefs we want to be.
We want to be recognized forour hard work.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
So obviously you want to feed your community, you
want to feed your neighborhood,yeah, but you want to show off.
You want to show what yourchops are.
You have some skill set and inorder to do that, you do need to
get out into the clear watersand the tampas and the St Pete's
and you need to throw down withsome of those chefs.
Yeah, I'd love to.
Okay, so we can help you makethat happen.
(21:17):
There's no question about it.
It always comes back to feedingthe people in your neighborhood
Right and making them happy.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
We are a neighborhood restaurant.
We're conveniently located justoutside of downtown Newport,
Ritchie.
We have a lot of regulars thatcome in and see us three, four
times a week.
We want to be able to expand onthat.
We want to be more involvedwith the food festivals that are
going on in Tampa, St Pete,Clearwater.
We want to show people thatit's okay to eat high-end
(21:51):
ingredients.
It doesn't have to be superexpensive either.
You know you can prepare thingsin a way that it's stuff that
you're comfortable with, butit's elevated, it's fresh, it's
not fried necessarily.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Chef, what are you eating at home, at home?
Speaker 1 (22:09):
We eat a lot of fish and vegetables at home.
We eat lean proteins mostly.
Sometimes, every once in awhile we eat beef, but not too
often.
I would say we definitely eat alot of fish.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Who are you?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I don't know.
So we eat a lot of freshingredients at home, lots of
fish, lots of vegetables, and welike to bring that into the
restaurant.
We have Tarpon Springs rightnext door, who offers a lot of
Greek restaurants, a lot ofMediterranean cuisine and a lot
of seafood coastal-inspiredrestaurants around us.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, but you made these pork chops today.
That's something that I wouldhave at home, but I couldn't
make them the way you did Right.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So we spent a lot of time in elevating our dishes.
We take something humble like apork chop.
We make sure that it's got anice French bone on it.
It's nice and thick at leasttwo inches thick.
They're 13 ounces a piece.
We sugar brine them for 24hours and then we take them out
and we sous vide them or cookthem from raw right onto the
(23:15):
grill and or in a cast iron pan.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
You're taking something simple and you're
making it better better than Ican do at home.
That's the idea, and that's theidea, and that's how you're and
that's what you're bringing tothe community, right, chef?
When your daughter's old enoughto sit at the bar at bricks and
reflect and understand what youand your wife build, what do
(23:38):
you hope she feels walking intothat space?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I hope she feels pride.
I hope she's proud of her momand dad that we were able to get
the community to embrace us, toaccept us.
Look, carl, we really love thehospitality industry in the
restaurant.
We want to continue doing it.
We don't have a choice but towin, and that's what we're going
to do, man.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Chef, that was the best answer possible.
Look, I saw you're cooking.
I tasted your cooking.
People are going to see thephotography.
They're going to love it.
Truth is, we want to be therefor your success.
How do people find you?
Speaker 1 (24:14):
So right now you can best place to find me is going
to be on Instagram at chefElijah rock.
The purchase of the restaurantis going to be going through
very soon, so we're going to berevamping our all of our socials
there, excellent.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
In the meantime, what I think we should do off air is
come up with a strategy, a planto do some events together,
some dinners.
Let's get out there, man, let'sget you out there.
Yeah, that sounds great, man.
Excellent, john.
As always, you killed it.
Let's rock and roll, baby.
Success for me is going to be, you know, bringing
my creativity to the small towns, showing people that you can.
You can break away from thefryer baskets, it's OK.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello Food Fam.
This is the Wankatalk Podcast,where you will find the perfect
blend of food fun and cookingknowledge.
I'm your host, carl Fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country and the
official podcast for the NewYork, california and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit and the US
Culinary Open at NAFM.
We're recording on-site at IbisImages Studios, where food
(00:47):
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
Email us to learn more info atthewalkandtalkcom.
Today's guest is stepping intotwo major roles all at once he's
a first-time daddy and asoon-to-be restaurant owner.
Chef Elijah Rock is theexecutive chef at Bricks in Port
Richey, florida, where he'sblending fine dining roots with
(01:07):
a coastal inspiration andbuilding a new culinary legacy
while he and his wife raisetheir first child at home.
Today he's bringing us twostandout dishes.
One's a pork chop, the otherone is scallops.
They're amazing and that's whatI want to get into first right
now.
Let's welcome Chef Elijah tothe program.
(01:28):
Chef, welcome, thank you forhaving me.
You were hitting home runs likecrazy.
Insane.
Both dishes, beautifulPhotography, as per usual, john,
fantastic, you're welcome.
Yeah, he doesn't talk, silentJohn.
I want to do pork chops first,man.
Yeah, he doesn't talk SilentJohn, let's.
I want to do pork chop serviceman?
Yeah, of course.
(01:49):
So both were great.
Um, I lean towards, you know,the beef, the lamb, the pork,
that's.
That's where I like to live.
I like seafood too.
Scallops are delicious, I lovethem, but let's talk about the
pork.
Oh, the pork chop.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yes, the pork chop is definitely a mainstay on our
main menu at Brick's.
What we do with the pork chopis a sugar brine for 24 hours.
After that we take it out, patit dry, we cryovac them into our
bags and then from there wewill sous vide them for service,
and then from there we hit themon the grill or in a cast iron
(02:25):
pan just to finish them off, getthem to temperature.
The way that we're preparingthe pork chop right now is we're
doing it with our house-madeCaribbean sauce, charred
Cipollini onions, potato pureeand sautéed asparagus Anytime
you're putting Cipollini onionson anything, you're a winner.
They're one of my favorites man.
They really are.
(02:45):
You come from up north, so Iwas born in Vermont and spent a
lot of my life in New Hampshire,right on the border of the
Connecticut River there.
So I'd be living in Vermontworking in New Hampshire, or
living in New Hampshire workingin Vermont, back and forth.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Where's your funny accent?
I never got one man.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
My dad's from Chicago .
Back and forth.
Where's your funny accent?
I never got one man.
My dad's from Chicago, my mom'sfrom New Jersey.
They met in Vermont at aChristmas party and they settled
down there.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
They loved it so much .
And nine months later, boom.
Yeah, a couple of years latermaybe, but you know, I hear New
Hampshire isn't it like that, Ithink it's supposed to be.
You can probably do it.
Oh, we can do it.
Sure, okay, all right, there itis Second dish scallops yes
scallops.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So the scallops that we made today, that dish is on
our chef's tasting menu.
They're U10 scallops from NewBedford, massachusetts.
We're doing that with creamedcorn, smoked tomato emulsion,
asparagus tips, prosciutto andpickled red onions.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, I'm going to get the prosciutto.
I ate them all, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
No, it's fine.
That's why I brought them, man,I did.
They're great snacks.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So the name of the restaurant is Bricks, but it's
not the bricks that everyone'sthinking.
Explain Bricks.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So Bricks B-R-I-X it's a unit of measurement to
measure the sugar content infruits and in wines.
Bricks B-R-I-X the name fitsthe flavor of the restaurant
being a bistro wine and bar.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So where did the French Caribbean mesh come from?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Caribbean and French fusion definitely came from my
heavy background in Frenchcooking.
I was always trained in Frenchrestaurants heavy European and
when we moved to Florida it wasone of those things that I've
always wanted to do is to getinto the flavors of the islands
(04:41):
and in Florida.
So my sous chef, jeremy, is aTampa native and he's really
helped out, like developing theflavors, teaching me how to put
it together in a positive wayand in turn I'm showing him more
of the French techniques.
So it's a nice balancing actbetween me and my sous.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I think any chef that's coming here from outside
of the state of Florida needs aJeremy in their life.
Oh, a hundred percent Right.
We spoke a little bit off airearlier about what's available
in terms of produce andseasonality in Florida.
And part of the year, man, it'spretty, it's pretty strong,
things are pretty solid.
(05:23):
And then the other half of theyear, like everything comes from
somewhere else and it's fairlyold.
By the time you get it it'salready had, you know, 10 days
or so on its life already.
So you come in as a chef who'sused to walking out to the
backyard and just, you know,pulling great stuff out of the
ground, and all of a sudden youroptions are a little limited.
(05:47):
How are you dealing with that?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's definitely different.
It's been a struggle a bit tofind, you know, your great
quality stuff, but thankfully wehave great fishermen, great
purveyors and we do have a lotof local farms that are not
afraid to walk in the back doorof our restaurant and, you know,
sell us on sign and if you knowyou have something that's
really nice, bring it by man.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I'll probably buy it from you.
The sale of the restauranthappens in about a month.
Yes, how is it that you'regoing to work around a brand new
baby and a brand new restaurant?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
It might be a little tough, but so far my wife and I
have a good system.
Since she's serving andbartending at the restaurant,
she doesn't come in until alittle bit later in the night,
so she's with the baby all day.
We bring the baby over to herparents' house, who live about
five minutes from the restaurant, and they're gracious enough to
(06:44):
watch their grandchild, whichwhich they really love, and from
there, uh, we pick her up atthe end of the night together,
we go home and you know, nowit's now his dad's starting to
hang out with with the littleone it's the most special thing
in the world and you have tomake sure this first, like six
(07:08):
months, is probably one of themost special because that's
where they're going to learn whoyou are.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It's awesome.
What you just said is awesomeand really sincerely, that's um
it's.
It's nice to hear people whoare still relatively young,
having the babies, still puttingin the work, still have
aspirations.
You both want to berestaurateurs, but you also want
(07:37):
to raise a family.
Have you seen that there's aparallel between a new baby and
a new restaurant?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
There is, in a way that it's both.
You don't really know whatyou're getting into until you're
in it.
I guess it's exciting, nervewracking and I'm definitely not
sleeping enough, but I mean Icouldn't be happier.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Emotions are real and what you have going on right
now when you look at yourdaughter and then you look at
the kitchen.
But I mean, I couldn't behappier.
Emotions are real and what youhave going on right now when you
look at your daughter and thenyou look at the kitchen.
What kind of legacy are youhoping to leave behind in both
places?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
For my daughter.
You know, I just want, I wantthe best for her, I want to be
there for her with everything,and it's being in the restaurant
industry has always beentraditionally hard on families,
so I'm trying to break that molda little bit by, you know,
being there as much as I can,you know.
That's why having a having areally strong team is super
(08:40):
important to me, so that I cantrust them If I have to leave,
if I have to go out and get, youknow, pick my daughter up from
school, or you know, whatever itis that I can, I can trust the
people that are there that aregoing to fulfill my vision.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
You're into the new way of things in the restaurant
industry.
You're looking to create aculture that's that embraces
family, growth, a better workenvironment all the things that
are the taglines in today's foodindustry world.
How did you come to thatconclusion?
How did you come to that path?
I?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
guess in my early in my career, I mean, I worked with
angry chefs in hostile kitchens.
It was tough to find a place.
You know you either were goingto be bullied or you had to be a
bully yourself and it's notsustainable for longevity, it's
not good for the morale of theteam.
(09:32):
The last place I worked at, inVermont Twin Farms, our
executive chef, nathan Rich,really taught me empathy by the
way that he treated everybody.
You know everyone deservesrespect.
You know you have to beaccountable for everything that
you're doing, but it was reallynice.
(09:54):
You felt accepted, you feltlike you belong there and you
know you're able.
But it was.
It was really nice.
You felt accepted, you feltlike you, you belong there and
you could.
You know you're, you're able togrow, you're not afraid to mess
up.
You know one of the biggestthings in cooking is you have to
fail to succeed or you're nevergonna.
You're never gonna break themold.
You know you're just gonna bemaking meatballs and spaghetti
red sauce.
You know there's nothing wrongwith that.
(10:14):
But I mean mean I like thecreativity, I like the.
You know the colors, theflavors, just the whole thing.
And you know you don't wantpeople to feel like they can't
do it because you can.
Cooking, essentially, is easy.
It's all the techniques thatyou learn along the way, from
different chefs, different cooks.
(10:35):
You know, I'm not afraid tolearn.
I learned stuff from from ourline cooks, from our dishwashers
there's.
That's the cool thing aboutfood is that you, you never stop
learning.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And you have to do it in a way that you can keep the
doors open Right.
So buying is super importantKnowing what to purchase, when
to purchase.
You know, I know a lot of chefsover the years with me.
They wanted like very specificitems that were out of season.
But they were in season in someother far away place.
Yeah, I can procure it for you.
You're going to pay throughyour nose.
(11:06):
I'm always wondering are yougoing to make money on that?
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, that's hard and I've definitely learned that in
Florida is that sometimes whatyou get is what you get and you
have to make changes.
And you know I'm I mean, I'm upfor the challenge on that.
I love coming up with with newmenus.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, I'm up for that challenge Opening a restaurant,
massive financial commitment,like it's a big step.
I tell people all the time likedon't do it, you're crazy.
In my family my grandfatherowned a restaurant, my father
did.
I grew up in and around thisbusiness.
I tell people to run With.
That said, I love restaurantsand I love this industry and I
(11:43):
love going to new places andtrying the different foods and
the techniques and alwayslooking for that next level
service that really brings youback.
You know you get a burgeranywhere, you can get certain
dishes anywhere, but like whenyou have good service and
there's happy people in arestaurant, that's what brings
you back.
How did you convince yourselfto go off on a financial limb to
(12:08):
buy a restaurant?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
That's uh, that's actually kind of funny.
You say that because, honestly,I never really wanted to own a
restaurant until until recently,the past couple of years.
I, I really just want to be incharge.
I want to be the boss thatcalls the shots and says when we
can take Christmas off, when wecan't.
(12:30):
I wanted to stop working forfor other people and start
working for myself and I think,like as a chef, that could be a
really great way to provide formy family does that mean your
definition of success may havechanged from, let's say, a year
ago, because you've worked inpretty high-end places like your
(13:05):
.
Your pedigree is pretty strong,and now you're in a smaller town
in Florida.
What equals success for you toeat quality ingredients at a
price that most people canafford.
I think it's really importantfor people to start looking at
where their food is coming from,what they're eating, how
they're eating it.
And success is being there foryour family too.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
You're in Port Richey .
It's a beautiful place.
It's not exactly on thenational food radar, but that's
where you find opportunities,where do you see the opportunity
in bringing your cuisine tothis area?
Speaker 1 (13:43):
One of the reasons why we moved down here was to
Port Richey is because it lookedlike the town was growing.
There's a lot of building goingon, there's new restaurants
popping up all over the place.
I wanted to be one of the firstpeople there that was doing
something special, doingsomething different than what's
(14:06):
been there before.
We need to serve ourdemographic by giving them the
things that they want, using thehigher-end ingredients, along
with the things that they'recomfortable with, like doing a
shrimp and grits.
Maybe we'll do it with braisedbeef, with the, with nice
polenta.
You know nice golf shrimp, theandouille sausage is always
great and you know we jazz it.
(14:27):
We will jazz it up a bit.
You know I like takingingredients and you know
removing it a couple times, liketonight with the smoked
tomatoes.
You know we take the tomatoes,we smoke them and then we
emulsify them into a gel.
So we've removed it from thetomato three times and now it's
(14:54):
a real balance because thepeople that live there, they
expect a certain type of service, they expect a certain type of
cuisine Me bringing mycreativity into these dishes
while serving them the stuffthat they can feel comfortable
with as well, at a price thatthey can afford French Caribbean
identity.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Beyond the flavor, what does that fusion represent
to you in this chapter of yourlife?
New father, a chef restaurateur.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
French and Caribbean flavors.
I mean, I love them both,especially French.
My wife and I, we love theislands, we love the food and
the flavors when we're there,flavors when we're there.
So bringing those two togetheras a fusion in a way that our
demographic will embrace, acceptand fall in love with is a nice
(15:45):
challenge for us.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
What's an example of a French Caribbean fusion dish?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
So we do a jerk seasoned pork loin on special
every once in a while and we'vebeen playing around with
plantains a lot, trying to be alittle different.
We don't fry food in ourrestaurant but we'll take the
plantains and we'll cook them ina, you know, in a cognac brandy
(16:13):
sauce.
That is, you know, heavy, heavyFrench, lots of butter, brown
sugar, the cognac, and then wegot our plantains that we bring
in, we let them ripen for acouple of weeks in the walk-in
and you know we we cook themalmost like a, like a candied
carrot in a way, and it's likethat type of fusion that I
(16:36):
really enjoy.
You know, you don't really seethat a lot.
Maybe it's a dish, I don't know, but it was something new for
us, it was something new for ourguests in the restaurant and
they really, they really seem toenjoy all those flavors that
sounds super sexy.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I mean, tell me another dish, what else you got.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I mean we'll get, we'll do apricots and we'll, you
know, infuse them with vanilla,make an emulsification out of
them.
It's, it's the balance of beingalmost too sweet but still a
savory aspect to it that you canput with steak, fish pork.
I mean it works in a lot ofdifferent ways.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
That apricot sauce really sounds amazing.
How is that pairing with aprotein?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Lately we would be putting that with our jerk
seasoned pork loin.
We'll do the chipolini onionson there, of course, with the
brandy plantains.
It all flows really nice.
And we'll do ourFrench-inspired pomme puree.
That's really delicious.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I hear about food every day.
We're in the food space.
So far I'm digging everythingyou're saying.
So if I come out to therestaurant, you have a bar,
right Of course.
What's the pair?
What am I drinking with that?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Oh man you could do a bunch of different things.
We do wine pairings with our,with our tasting menu, so you
could go that route.
We have a full liquor bar, wehave beers.
We're always challenging ourbar staff to come up with new
things that you know again fitour demographic, that also fit
(18:07):
within our vision, like rightnow our bartendericky has been
working on this pineappleupside-down martini that she's
doing and I mean it really justknocks your socks off, man.
It's really good.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I can't stop talking about that one, all right so an
upside-down pineapple martini,which I presume is like an
upside-down cake, does soundspectacular.
I think John and I are going tomake our way up to your
restaurant restaurant and wemight bring a camera or two and
we're going to get some videofootage of Vicky doing her drink
(18:41):
.
How's that sound?
That's it.
I think she would really likethat.
I guess one of the things youdon't have to do in buying this
restaurant is much renovation,because it looks really nice in
there.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Right, how old is the building, oh man.
I mean, I don't really how oldis the building?
Oh man, I mean, I don't reallyknow how old the building is.
It's got to be 20 years old atleast.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But it looks like it's fairly freshly renovated
inside.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
We take care of it.
We clean every day.
The restaurant's been there for10 years, so it's not perfect,
but it's home.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Chef, we were talking off air about the community of
things and how you kind of wantto expand into the neighborhood.
You know, not just not justport richie, but tampa.
You want to bring tampa to portrichie and you want to show the
big city what the little guycan do in regards to community.
I'm thinking between bricks andsome walk and talk inspired
(19:31):
events or dinners.
I feel like we can bring a lotto the community To bring the
community to Bricks.
I think we can get Tampa toBricks because I think your
level of cooking is pretty damngood.
People need to kind of justknow who you are and where to
find you.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, yeah, so we are a hole in the wall.
We're a small neighborhoodrestaurant and Tampa is
definitely the place to go ifyou want an exceptional dinner,
but we definitely want to seemore people coming in our doors
because you can get that levelof service and the of the people
(20:09):
in your area.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
They're used to certain things and and those
things are really yummy.
But you're a creative guy.
I know you want to bring.
You want to bring traditionalyummy fried stuff to the masses,
but you want to do it in anelevated way.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah.
So I mean we definitely want tobe using the highest quality
ingredients that we can at aprice point that you know
everyone can afford in our area.
You know we want to do.
We want to do collaborationdinners in downtown tampa.
We want to be in clearwater.
We want to get our name outthere as not just a business but
(20:48):
as, as as chefs we want to be.
We want to be recognized forour hard work.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
So obviously you want to feed your community, you
want to feed your neighborhood,yeah, but you want to show off.
You want to show what yourchops are.
You have some skill set and inorder to do that, you do need to
get out into the clear watersand the tampas and the St Pete's
and you need to throw down withsome of those chefs.
Yeah, I'd love to.
Okay, so we can help you makethat happen.
(21:17):
There's no question about it.
It always comes back to feedingthe people in your neighborhood
Right and making them happy.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
We are a neighborhood restaurant.
We're conveniently located justoutside of downtown Newport,
Ritchie.
We have a lot of regulars thatcome in and see us three, four
times a week.
We want to be able to expand onthat.
We want to be more involvedwith the food festivals that are
going on in Tampa, St Pete,Clearwater.
We want to show people thatit's okay to eat high-end
(21:51):
ingredients.
It doesn't have to be superexpensive either.
You know you can prepare thingsin a way that it's stuff that
you're comfortable with, butit's elevated, it's fresh, it's
not fried necessarily.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Chef, what are you eating at home, at home?
Speaker 1 (22:09):
We eat a lot of fish and vegetables at home.
We eat lean proteins mostly.
Sometimes, every once in awhile we eat beef, but not too
often.
I would say we definitely eat alot of fish.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Who are you?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I don't know.
So we eat a lot of freshingredients at home, lots of
fish, lots of vegetables, and welike to bring that into the
restaurant.
We have Tarpon Springs rightnext door, who offers a lot of
Greek restaurants, a lot ofMediterranean cuisine and a lot
of seafood coastal-inspiredrestaurants around us.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, but you made these pork chops today.
That's something that I wouldhave at home, but I couldn't
make them the way you did Right.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So we spent a lot of time in elevating our dishes.
We take something humble like apork chop.
We make sure that it's got anice French bone on it.
It's nice and thick at leasttwo inches thick.
They're 13 ounces a piece.
We sugar brine them for 24hours and then we take them out
and we sous vide them or cookthem from raw right onto the
(23:15):
grill and or in a cast iron pan.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
You're taking something simple and you're
making it better better than Ican do at home.
That's the idea, and that's theidea, and that's how you're and
that's what you're bringing tothe community, right, chef?
When your daughter's old enoughto sit at the bar at bricks and
reflect and understand what youand your wife build, what do
(23:38):
you hope she feels walking intothat space?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I hope she feels pride.
I hope she's proud of her momand dad that we were able to get
the community to embrace us, toaccept us.
Look, carl, we really love thehospitality industry in the
restaurant.
We want to continue doing it.
We don't have a choice but towin, and that's what we're going
to do, man.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Chef, that was the best answer possible.
Look, I saw you're cooking.
I tasted your cooking.
People are going to see thephotography.
They're going to love it.
Truth is, we want to be therefor your success.
How do people find you?
Speaker 1 (24:14):
So right now you can best place to find me is going
to be on Instagram at chefElijah rock.
The purchase of the restaurantis going to be going through
very soon, so we're going to berevamping our all of our socials
there, excellent.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
In the meantime, what I think we should do off air is
come up with a strategy, a planto do some events together,
some dinners.
Let's get out there, man, let'sget you out there.
Yeah, that sounds great, man.
Excellent, john.
As always, you killed it.
Let's rock and roll, baby.
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